EMMAUS, Pa. — A lease dispute between Nowhere Coffee Co. and the borough council president poured over into the Emmaus Borough Council meeting Monday as the coffee shop owners decried what they allege has been mismanagement of the health inspection process.
Co-owner of Nowhere Coffee Co. Lauren Vargas criticized coffee company landlord Chad Balliet, who is borough council president.
"If Mr. Balliet is accepting of unacceptable standards in any building where he breathes in the air and is exposing himself to the dangerous every single day, we wonder what is happening in his other buildings in his other properties and elsewhere in the Emmaus community," Vargas said.
"Our employees deserve safety. We deserve safety. The people of Emmaus deserve safety. We are asking you, the president of the council, we are asking you, the head of the commission of safety and sanitary, we are asking you, the head the manager of all of this — to do better. That is the only thing we are asking of you."
Borough officials, including Balliet and Borough Manager Shane Pepe, declined to comment directly on the claims made until a later date.
The coffee shop owners say a leaky roof damaged thousands of dollars of equipment, and Balliet delayed for days an evaluation of damages and remediation efforts.
Conflict of interest allegations
Balliet co-owns and operates South Mountain Cycle in the same Main Street building with Nowhere Coffee Co., with the two businesses sharing open walkways between them.
The damage occurred just a few days after President Joe Biden visited Emmaus, toured the businesses and met with workers and customers.
"We asked for [health inspector Gary Ritter] to contact us when he was going to come out to re-inspect and you authorized him to bring a second person. Rather than doing that, he contacted our landlord directly for access to the building and completed an inspection of our facility without ever telling us when we weren't ready for it," Lauren Vargas said.
"That is something between a health inspector and a city council member."Lauren Vargas, co-owner of Nowhere Coffee Co.
"Twelve days after a leak is not an emergency, that is not emergency access granted by a landlord. That is something between a health inspector and a city council member."
According to a copy of the lease provided by Vargas, authorized agents and employees of the landlord are permitted to enter the leased property "at all reasonable times to inspect same, at any time in an emergency for purpose of correcting or curing any emergency or the cause thereof and/or to ascertain the cause thereof, and at all reasonable times to make repairs, alterations or additions to the leased premises."
That is so long as the landlord provides "reasonable advanced notice" and make reasonable efforts to not interfere with the business and operations. However, no advance notice is required in the event of an emergency.
On Jan. 12, Lauren and Juan Vargas hosted Biden and a number of state and local dignitaries at their café. But a month later, they were forced to temporarily close following discovery of the roof leaks.
Throughout February and March, the business made many social media posts about the problems, including emails stating that the health inspector entered the property on Feb. 27 after saying he had being given permission by the business owners over the phone, which the owners say was not the case.
Another post showed portions of the remediation process from a security camera claiming "shortcuts, shortcuts, everywhere."
Recent health inspections declared the business to be in compliance with operations, with issues previously raised having been resolved.
Issue drags on in building and social media
On March 15, the Vargases took to Instagram to say they were terminating their lease a month after the leaks and damage resulted in what was at first a temporary closure.
The post called publicly on landlord Balliet to release the company from its personal guarantee stipulated in the signed lease.
"We are trying to walk away and walk away clean, but your town deserves better from you," Lauren Vargas said.
The couple previously acknowledged if Balliet won’t let them out of the lease, they don't have a lot of options.
"12 days after a leak is not an emergency, that is not emergency access granted by a landlord. That is something between a health inspector and a city council member."Lauren Vargas
“We’re willing to walk away if he’ll just let us walk away,” Juan Vargas said. “If he doesn’t, our lawyers say if he’s unwilling to rectify the problem we have to go get your own construction company, rebuild the place out of pocket and probably sue him for it.
"That’s what we’re trying to prevent. That seems so extreme to us.
“The president visited our shop. We wanted to be here forever.”
The five-year lease was signed in July 2022.
During Monday night's meeting, Lauren Vargas claimed that due to lingering chemicals and moisture in wood surfaces, the building is "now not a safe space to be."
A health inspection report on Feb. 27 noted the facility was out of compliance and had six violations related to water damage from the roof leak. It included the need to clean and sanitize dishware, utensils, counters and other food contact and preparation services; and the need to dispose of single-use items damaged by the water.
A follow-up report on March 9 noted the business was once again in compliance, with the only violation being that some items and pitchers needed to be washed and sanitized.
Health, sanitation and codes committee chairman Councilman Nathan Brown said after the meeting that contrary to what Lauren Vargas said, the inspector contacted the business owners multiple times during business hours throughout the dispute. Brown said the Vargases would not commit to a scheduled time for an inspection.
He lamented that there was an opportunity during the process for it to be resolved quickly.
Borough, Balliet defend health inspector
Local resident Heather Harlen also voiced concern over the situation at public comment, echoing the Vargases claims of conflict of interest because of Balliet's standing in the borough.
Pepe, the borough manager, refuted that claim. He noted Balliet's lack of oversight and non-membership on council's committee of health, sanitation and codes, or the borough board of health.
"All part-time employees, including our inspectors, and all full-time employees are directed by the borough manager. No single borough council member has any managerial control over anybody in the borough, including myself," Pepe said.
Harlen argued that if there was a conflict of interest there should be an option for someone outside the borough's direct employment to conduct inspections.
Borough solicitor Jason Ulrich said that there is no legal conflict of interest in the situation given the lack of direct oversight, and that no one can request an external inspector given the processes established.
After the meeting, Pepe decried the attempts to discredit the health inspection.
"The inspector that she's talking about ... is the city of Allentown inspector and has been doing this job flawlessly for over 35 years," Pepe said. "I would not question his integrity ever. He has nothing to lose by a $17,000 job in the Borough of Emmaus. It's his full-time job, his career.
"There are other things going on there that you guys haven't written about, that we're not going to discuss. I would simply wait."
Ritter is the borough's part-time health inspector and has worked full-time with Allentown's health bureau in various roles since the mid-1980s, according to his LinkedIn profile.
"[Juan and Lauren Vargas] have done their very best to air this out on every media, on every social media post that they possibly can," Pepe said. "And they have done their very best to discredit a man who quite honestly has a very good and honorable reputation.
"And it's not fair to the health inspector that they've tried to do that."
Ritter did not return previous requests for comment.
"I’d love to comment when we can comment, because there’s a lot more to this story than what you’re being told," Balliet said last week, citing that both sides have hired lawyers to navigate the lease termination request.
"I’ve worked extremely hard to get where I’m at. I put a lot of pride into this. I ran that cafe for seven years, seven days a week with my wife. I’ve had a food license. We’ve had all that stuff."
